2011.048

Bergin, Bill

Gift

Gift of Bill Bergin.

1928

8 in

10 in

Notes: Text from three page article in: Hoboken History, Number 7, Spring 1993. The Magazine of the Hoboken Historical Museum. Killed in Line of Duty: Hoboken's Heroes. By Patrolman Kevin Houghton, Hoboken Police Department. Shootout on 12th Street Crime, not an accident, took the life of the third Hoboken police officer to die in the line of duty, in 1928. At that time, the Hoboken Police Department had an appropriation for 206 officers. The nation was in the middle of Prohibition, and crime was running amok. With a population of 75,000, its nearness to New York City, plus being an active seaport town, Hoboken presented more policing problems than cities several times larger. On March 9, 58-year-old Patrolman Patrick Lane was gunned down on a dark residential street while taking two armed car thieves to a Hoboken police station. Lane, one of the best-liked men on the Force, had joined the Police Department in 1911, and had worn badge number 46 for 17 years. He was credited with many good arrests of gunmen and automobile thieves. According to a police report of the time, Patrolman Lane had just completed his 4 p.m. to midnight tour of duty when he saw a Moon sedan speeding south on Hudson Street from 14th. At Lane's hail, the driver stopped the vehicle. Neither he nor his passenger could produce a driver's license or vehicle registration. Lane ordered both men out of the vehicle, gave them a quick "frisk," and took a gun from one of them, a weapon which was later recovered from Patrolman Lane's coat pocket. After Lane placed the two under arrest, he began to escort them to the Second Precinct, then at Willow and 12th. They were midway on 12th Street between Hudson and Washington when three shots rang out. As Lane dropped to the pavement, the two prisoners fled. One man was captured by Patrolman Tormey. The second escaped into an alley between 1127 and 1129 Washington Street, where a gun with three empty chambers was later found. Patrolman Lane was taken to St. Mary Hospital but died in its elevator. Confession and punishment The captured prisoner was Robert Wilkins, 24, an unemployed printer from Manhattan's East Side. He wept, described his part in the killing, and maintained that it was William Foyt, a convict just released from Sing Sing, who was the shooter. (Wilkins later pleaded guilty to stealing the car in Brooklyn and to weapons possession.) When Wilkins gave officers Foyt's address, Inspector Daniel J. Kiely and several detectives headed for New York. With a squad of NYPD detectives, they captured Foyt in his bed in Manhattan. Foyt was returned to Hoboken on March 27 from the "Tombs" in Manhattan and arraigned on a charge of murder. After trying to plead insanity, he went on trial on May 1, was found guilty of murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. On the morning of Tuesday, March 13, 1928, the City of Hoboken paid homage to its fallen hero. Thousands lined Washington Street as Patrolman Patrick Lane was awarded a full Inspector's funeral. Flower cars and limousines were said to extend from City Hall to 17th and Willow. Original or Copy: Original Status: OK Status By: dw Status Date: 2012-04-26